A unique forward-looking and thought-provoking museum, exploring
contemporary issues relevant to Canadians of all backgrounds, engaged with
communities at the local, national and global level.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Message from the Executive Director and Chair 2 Collections 3 Research
6 On-site Programs 10 On-line Programs 11 McCord in the News 12 Involvement
13 The Year in Review 14 Financial Overview 16 Support 19 The Museum Team

50748_RAPPORT ANNUEL_MCCORD_C

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MESSAGE FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHAIR
2006 marks the 85th anniversary of the McCord Museum. For over four generations,
since the Museum was founded in 1921 by David Ross McCord, we have been
collecting the treasures of our history. With world-class collections of Canadian
costume, photography, and Aboriginal art and culture, the McCord is at the
forefront of preserving and presenting Montréal, Quebec and Canadian history.
At the same time, we have never lost sight of the broad educational mission of our
founder: to make the study of history accessible to everyone. We have built a solid
reputation for award-winning exhibitions, indispensable Web-based history
resources, and innovative school and family programs.
We have also adopted a new mission and an exciting vision for the Museum. While
continuing to work “Collecting history“, we have added a renewed focus on our
community, “Connecting people“ to their pasts and to each other. Much more than
just its collections, the McCord helps people understand history, in order
to reflect on the present and imagine the future.
This year the Museum acquired some 9,000 objects and archival documents,
donated by people eager to preserve our nation’s history. Over 125,000 images
from our collections have been made accessible on the Museum Website, and this
past year our site welcomed close to one million visits from people all around the
world. Collecting, connecting — they go hand in hand. We hope that through your
visits to the McCord, either in person or on-line, you have connected not only with
our collections, but with the ideas, hopes and aspirations of the people behind the
objects. We also hope that you see the McCord as a place where you can connect
with your family, friends and the larger community.
We are delighted that in our 85th birthday year, the McCord Museum will be full
of promise and projects for decades to come.

Victoria Dickenson
Executive Director

Manon Vennat
Chair of the Board of Trustees

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COLLECTIONS

N EW A C Q U I S I T I O N S

People from across Canada and the United States think of the McCord as the
repository for their heirlooms and treasures. This year we accepted 124 donations
totalling 9,110 artifacts and archival documents. Ten donations were submitted
to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board for certification because of
their outstanding national significance. These included the Honoré Beaugrand
fonds, caricatures by Serge Chapleau and Terry Mosher (a.k.a. Aislin), the Hugh A.
Peck collection of Inuit objects, three pieces of silver by Montréal silversmith
Robert Cruickshank (1743-1809), and a collection of “Aladdin“-type oil lamps.
ACQU I S ITION S I N 2005-2006

Collections

Number of donations

Number of artifacts

Iconographic and textual archives

30 donations

1,213 documents and/or lots

Photographic archives

9 donations

7,007 photographs

Decorative arts

19 donations

563 artifacts

Costume and textiles

15 donations

166 artifacts

Ethnology/archaeology

6 donations

95 artifacts

Paintings, prints and drawings

2 donations

66 works

Cross-collection acquisitions

43 donations

(apportioned above)

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RESEARCH
A R C H I V E S A N D D O C U M E N TAT I O N C E N T R E

The Archives and Documentation Centre hosted more than 460 on-site research
sessions (one session is equivalent to a half-day) for external researchers from a wide
range of backgrounds, from across Canada and beyond. The Centre is accredited
and supported by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. This year the
Museum received a special grant from the province to catalogue the Drummond
family archives, a rich repository of family history, including the letters of Guy
Drummond, a soldier in the First World War, and the correspondence of Lady
Drummond, which includes letters sent by Sir Wilfred Laurier and Prime Minister
MacKenzie King.
McCORD COLLOQU I U M

What’s for Dinner? The Daily Meal Through History was the theme of the 2005
McCord Colloquium, which took place November 2 to 4, 2005, in association with
the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. The Colloquium coincided with the
annual general meeting of the national association Cuisine Canada, and welcomed
more than 190 participants who heard presentations in French and English from
scholars and culinary professionals from Canada, the United States, Europe and
Great Britain. The 2005 Colloquium received funding from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the British Council, and the McGill
Institute. A highlight of the Colloquium was the opening Round Table that brought
together chefs, brewers, bakers, and restaurateurs to talk about The Taste of Montreal!

SYMPOSIUM

In conjunction with the opening of our exhibition Picturing Her in December 2005,
the Museum hosted a symposium on the portrayal of girlhood in art. Organized
with Professor Loren Lerner of Concordia University, this event brought together
university researchers in art history and cultural studies from Canada and the United
States. Dr. Lerner, who is a Research Associate of the Museum, also served as guest
curator for Picturing Her.

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R ES EA RC H P RO J ECTS

In Year Two of a three-year project funded by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) on the evolution of Canadian
cuisine, the McCord documented the history and development of the market for
ethnic foods in Montréal. The study of merchants on St. Lawrence Boulevard (“The
Main“) from 1900 to 1967 builds on earlier
work on the history of Montréal grocery stores.
A second research project examines how food
labelling in Canada has changed over time.
This study is based on the McCord’s collection
of historic labels dating from 1920 to 1960,
produced by the Rolph Clark Stone Company,
a printing firm based in Toronto.
In partnership with the Centre d’histoire de Montréal and the Écomusée du fier
monde, and at the request of the federal agency Canada Lands, the McCord
Museum worked to document and present the history of Benny Farm in NotreDame-de-Grace, Montréal. Benny Farm was one of the first social housing projects
in Canada, developed for veterans and their families after the Second World War.
Museum staff took part in five “memory clinics“ with Benny Farm residents,
workshops on conserving archival documents, and the presentation of an exhibition
at Benny Farm and at the Notre-Dame-de-Grace Maison de la culture.
The McCord is a partner in an international research consortium studying the
history of chocolate in North America, headed by the University of California,
Davis (UC Davis) and Mars Inc. The project brings
together more than seventy historians and specialists
from around the world who are researching all
aspects of this delicious history. The McCord is
responsible for investigating chocolate in Canada,
from its earliest importation and manufacture to its
medical, military, cultural and culinary applications,
from the time of New France to the First World War.
The Museum has forged ties with researchers in
museums, archives and historic sites across the country.
Look forward to a publication and an exhibition on
this delectably rich history.

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The Montréal community changed greatly during the 20th century. The Ministère
de la Culture et des Communications du Québec asked the McCord, in association
with its partners, the Écomusée du fier monde and the Centre d’histoire de
Montréal, to conduct a study on the heritage of ethno-cultural communities in
the Montréal region. The study focused on the definitions, museological practices
and main criteria that will enable the MCCQ to better identify and analyze the
heritage of ethnic groups in Montréal and to study applications for projects on
cultural diversity. This study will also help the Museum develop a larger national
research project on the material culture of ethnicity and role of the museum in a
multiethnic society.
From 2005 until 2009, the McCord Museum is participating in a research
project on museum education. This project is funded by the Fonds québécois de
recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSH) and is being carried out by
researchers from three universities and four museums. The McCord was invited
to participate in the section of the study devoted to devising strategies for using
the Internet in museums for educational purposes. It is the most active museum
in this field in Canada. In collaboration with three school boards, in 2006 the
research team tested the applicability and ease of use of the Web resource Keys
to History at the elementary school level.
P U B L I C AT I O N S

A great exhibition never dies! The Scots of Montréal:
A Pictorial Album was published in fall 2005, based on
the exhibition The Scots - Dyed-in-the-Wool Montrealers,
presented at the Museum in 2003-2004. The book was
financed by the St. Andrew’s Society of Montréal and
published by Véhicule Press. Another book on the Scots,
this time based on papers from the 2002 McCord
Colloquium, was published by McGill Queens University
Press. A Kingdom of the Mind: How the Scots Helped Make
Canada is a collection of fourteen papers by authors from
across Canada and Scotland.

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ON-SITE PROGRAMS
EXH I B ITION S

Each year the McCord provides its visitors with a program of temporary exhibitions
developed by the McCord exhibitions team or borrowed from our partner
museums. Highlights from this year’s program:
In the spring we welcomed Cross Currents - 500 Generations of Aboriginal
Fishing in Atlantic Canada, an exhibition by the Canadian Museum of Civilization
that explored through the findings of archaeologists the integral role of fishing in
the life of Aboriginal people in the Atlantic region for the last 11,000 years.
In collaboration with Professor Loren Lerner, chair of the Department of
Art History at Concordia University and McCord Research Associate, we presented
the exhibition Picturing Her - Images of Girlhood, which explored historical
representations of young women from the 1860s to today. This exhibition drew
from the Museum’s rich collection of paintings, drawings and photographs, and
from works by contemporary artists.

Primal Images - Transmutations of a National Icon, a fascinating exploration of
the power of an iconic Canadian photograph, “The Last Spike“, was produced in
collaboration with the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, and was first presented
in France last year.
We continued to circulate Cities of Canada - The Seagram Collection, presented
last spring at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and
ending this year at The Rooms in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
We began to circulate After Notman, presented throughout the 2005-2006 season
at several cultural centres and galleries on the island, thanks to the Conseil des arts
de Montréal program “Exposer dans l’Île“. This exhibition was so popular with
Montrealers that it earned an honourable mention in the People’s Choice category
of the Conseil des arts awards.
Finally, Becoming Bell - 125 Years of Building for Tomorrow, a McCord exhibition
produced for Bell Canada as part of the company’s 125th anniversary celebrations
and primarily intended for Bell employees, travelled across the country with stops
at Bell buildings in Quebec City, Vancouver, Calgary, Sudbury, Toronto, Ottawa
and Montréal.

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EXHIBITIONS
PRESENTED IN 2005-2006

Growing Up in Montréal
Picturing Her - Images of Girlhood
Simply Montréal:
Glimpses of a Unique City

from October 29, 2004 to September 2007
from November 25, 2005 to April 9, 2006
a permanent exhibition

from May 28, 2004 to April 3, 2005,
produced by the Musée de la civilisation, Quebec City.
from August 26, 2004 to May 1, 2005,
curated by Faith Moosang, and organized and circulated
by Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver.
from May 20, 2005 to April 30, 2006,
produced by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau.
from June 3 to October 30, 2005,
produced by the Canadian Cultural Centre,
Paris, in collaboration with the McCord Museum.

VIRTUAL
The Photographic Studio of William Notman,
with the Virtual Museum of Canada
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/virtualexhibits/notmanstudio/

ON TOUR
Cities of Canada The Seagram Collection

McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario,
from March 5 to May 8, 2005;
Confederation Centre, Charlottetown, P.E.I.,
from June 5 to September 11, 2005;
The Rooms, St. John’s, Newfoundland,
from December 16, 2005 to April 24, 2006.

After Notman - Photographic Views
of Montréal, A Century Apart

Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe-Claire, March 19 to May 1, 2005;
Dorval Cultural Centre, May 6 to June 20, 2005;
Outremont Art Gallery, June 28 to July 29, 2005;
Musée du Château Dufresne, August 5 to September 11, 2005;
Eleanor London Public Library, September 15 to October 16, 2005;
Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay, October 20 to December 4, 2005;
Pavillon de l’Entrepôt, Lachine, December 9, 2005 to January 8, 2006;
Maison de la culture Mercier, January 14 to February 19, 2006.

Becoming Bell 125 Years of Building for Tomorrow

A special exhibition produced by the McCord Museum for employees
of Bell Canada as part of the company’s 125th anniversary celebration:
Musée de la civilisation, Quebec City, June 10 to June 16, 2005;
Bell Canada Building, Vancouver, June 26 to July 19, 2005;
Bell Canada Building, Calgary, July 25 to August 12, 2005;
Bell Canada Building, Sudbury, August 19 to 25, 2005;
Bell Canada Building, Toronto, September 19 to October 16, 2005;
Convention Centre, Toronto, October 17 to 19, 2005;
Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa,
October 23 to November 10, 2005;
Bell Canada Building, Montréal, November 14 to an as yet unspecified date.

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ACTIVITI ES

Despite the teachers’ boycott of educational activities that greatly affected students’
participation in the Museum’s school programs, the McCord continued to maintain
its presence in the educational community through in-class visits, Web access
and innovative programs at individual schools. The Museum’s education kit is a
portable pedagogical tool for students and teachers, which brings the museum
experience to the classroom. The theme of the current kit, Montréal During the
Industrial Revolution, 1820-1905, encourages students to explore the impact of
the Industrial Revolution on the city through participation in diverse activities and
the examination of relevant objects. The Education Kit can be used independently
in the classroom or with the assistance of a Museum interpreter.
For Schools: Highlights
As part of the 2005 summer program for the exhibition Cross Currents, we
offered visits that included exchanges between the public and a Mi’kmaq animator,
and during Archaeology Month in Quebec, an archaeologist.
Our partnership with the Écomusée du fier monde and the Centre d’histoire
de Montréal continued with the project Photographier son milieu, an activity
for young people that, through a series of museum visits, encouraged them to
discover the history of Montréal, the history of their neighbourhood and the art
of 19th-century photography.
In collaboration with the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic
Site of Canada, the Lachine Canal National Historic Site of Canada and the
Écomusée du fier monde, we offered the development of a multi-site visit called
Montréal Steams Ahead — four museums in one package!
In collaboration with the First Nations Garden of the Montréal Botanical
Garden, we created a visit for students to learn about Aboriginal people and the
environment, First Nations and the Land: From Yesterday to Today.
As part of our ongoing commitment to promote accessibility to the Museum,
we developed an original arts and crafts program with Rosalie-Jetté School to
encourage young mothers to discover the Museum with their infants. We also
developed workshops to help these women express their perception of childhood
today. The workshops resulted in a small exhibition featured as part of Growing Up
in Montréal during the Journées de la culture last September.

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For Families: Highlights
Sweet dreams filled the McCord during February’s annual Montreal High
Lights Festival. On Saturday, February 25, parents and children were invited
to visit the McCord and to stay up way past their bedtime, creating traditional
stocking caps and listening to storytellers Louise Alain and Éric Michaud.
The Museum’s spring break activities made a big splash! The week-long program
offered activities and arts and crafts workshops based around our exhibition
Cross Currents. Participants discovered Aboriginal fishing traditions of the past
11,000 years through artifacts, fishing tales and songs.
In May, the McCord celebrated the Semaine québécoise des familles by
offering a special Wednesday afternoon workshop where participants had the
chance to decorate their own wooden tops. We also offered the independent
activity “Visit in a valise“ for use in the exhibition Simply Montréal. Families were
given a suitcase filled with everything needed to tell a story, play a game and sculpt
a work of art.
Summer Day Camps at the McCord are always engaging combinations of
history and activity. Taking our popular exhibition Growing Up in Montréal as
inspiration, children learned tricks of the museum trade to help keep their toys in
mint condition, designed the perfect city park and enjoyed some very special
behind-the-scenes tours of the Museum.
Saturday and Sunday afternoons continue to be a whirlwind of creativity
at the Museum. The activities offered in our regular arts and crafts workshops,
always linked to an exhibition or holiday event, ranged from decorating colourful
windsocks and puppet making to some spooky Halloween “cookery“.

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ON-LINE PROGRAMS
Each year our Website grows in popularity. This year we
saw an increase in visits of 60 percent, with more than
120,000 monthly visits and an annual total of well
over a million. We launched a new on-line interface, and
with the support of a $200,000 grant from Canadian
Heritage through its Virtual Museums of Canada program,
the McCord produced a new virtual exhibition called The
Photographic Studio of William Notman. A pioneer and iconic
figure of Canadian photography in the 19th century,
William Notman was one of the first photographers to
see the essence of photography as a form of artistic and
social expression. The virtual exhibition devoted to this
photographer contains an exploration section giving visitors access to over twenty
short videos, as well as animated clips, games and educational activities.
As part of its ongoing commitment to making its collections accessible to people
inside and outside the Museum walls, the McCord continued to add content to its
Keys to History section, a unique virtual space where the general public and students
can learn about aspects of our history. Thousands of documents and artifacts linked
to key themes in Canadian history have been digitized and are put into context
through thematic virtual visits. An important component of Keys to History is the
on-line educational program EduWeb, which invites secondary and primary school
teachers to use the on-line resources of the McCord Museum through the ClioClic
pedagogical guide, hosted on the Museum site. This tool was developed between
1999 and 2003 by the McCord and several university partners, with the support of the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Implementation
of the EduWeb educational program was made possible through the collaboration of
a consortium of museums and school boards in five Canadian provinces.
Finally, thanks to the Department of Canadian Heritage, Web surfers can now visit the
exhibition Growing Up in MontrĂŠal from the comfort of their own homes.
FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT OUR WEBSITE

The Photographic Studio of William Notman:
www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/virtualexhibits/notmanstudio/
Keys to History: www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/
EduWeb: www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/eduweb/
ClioClic: www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/eduweb/
Growing Up in MontrĂŠal:
www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/growingup

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McCORD
IN THE NEWS
S U RV E Y

Every two years, the McCord conducts a community survey. In 2005-2006
Léger Marketing asked over 1,000 Quebecers what they knew of the McCord.
The survey revealed that public awareness of the Museum has increased from
18 percent to 20 percent in the last two years, making us the second best-known
museum in the city after the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
PRESS

The McCord’s exhibitions and programs garnered a lot of attention in print, electronic
and digital media in 2005-2006. Picturing Her - Images of Girlhood, Cross Currents 500 Generations of Aboriginal Fishing in Atlantic Canada and Primal Images Transmutations of a National Icon all received extensive coverage in the major
Montréal dailies and weeklies including La Presse, Le Devoir and The Gazette,
and were written up in other newspapers across Canada and the U.S. including the
Toronto Star. Cross Currents was featured on the cover of Le Devoir’s L’agenda,
the paper’s weekly arts and culture guide. La Presse examined the themes raised in
the exhibition and symposium Picturing Her with two front-page articles in the
Actuel section. The colloquium What’s for Dinner? The Daily Meal Through History
generated numerous stories in major newspapers across Canada including a series
of articles in The Gazette.
Museum exhibitions, research, and events were covered by national publications
such as Chatelaine, The Beaver - Canada’s History Magazine, enRoute, ELLE
Québec and Living With Style. Museum staff frequently gave interviews for both
radio and television including the CBC, Radio-Canada, Canal Vie and CTV.
Victoria Dickenson wrote a feature article for the March 2006 edition of MUSE. The
EduWeb and Keys to History projects were highly praised in numerous educational
newsletters across Canada including Focus, the newsletter of the Social Studies
Council of the Alberta Teachers Association and RAPPORT: Journal of the Ontario
History and Social Sciences Teachers Association.

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INVOLVEMENT
The McCord family continued to grow and to strengthen in 2005-2006 and we
are extremely grateful to all who supported the Museum, either through our
program of volunteers or by becoming Friends of the McCord. We could not
offer the roster of programs that we do without the help of our many volunteers
who give their time and talents, both to museum visitors and behind the scenes.
The financial support from contributors to our Friends of the McCord program is
vitally important and appreciated, and to show our thanks we offered many
benefits to our Friends, including unlimited admission to exhibitions, invitations
to special events, and discounts on Museum services and programs.
A N N UA L G A L A

The Museum’s annual gala, Come Play With Us, was held on April 21, 2005. Taking
its inspiration from the exhibition Growing Up in Montréal, the gala attracted nearly
250 people to the Museum’s halls, and their generosity raised over $80,000 in net
profits for the McCord. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to Board
member Mr. Daniel Gagnier, Senior Vice-President, Corporate and External Affairs,
Alcan Inc. and Honorary Chair of the gala, as well as to all the dedicated members
of the organizing committee, our sponsors, and our donors, who made this evening
such a resounding success.
FA S H I O N S H O W B E N E F I T

In October 2005, the Museum accepted the invitation of designer Yves Jean
Lacasse to benefit from a fashion show celebrating the tenth anniversary of his
ENVERS label. This evening was an ideal occasion for the Museum to increase its
visibility with a young and dynamic public, while confirming its status as holder of
the largest collection of Canadian costumes and textiles in the country.
F U N D R A I S I N G C A M PA I G N

The Museum is also grateful to Daniel and Heather Gagnier, co-chairs of its annual
fundraising campaign in 2004-2005, and Daniel Labrecque, chair of the
2005-2006 campaign, which began in September 2005, as well as to all those who
responded so generously to our fundraising activities last year. The complete list of
our donors for the period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006 is provided on
pages 16-18.

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THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Visitors
Tourists – individuals

42%

Montrealers – groups

39%

Montrealers – individuals

18%

Tourists – groups

1%

18%

1%

42%

39%

Despite the drop in the number of tourists to Montréal in the summer of 2005, the
McCord welcomed 73,662 visits in 2005-2006, and saw 3,784 visitors through its
doors on Museum Day, Montréal’s free museum celebration.

Sources of Revenue

28%

23%
Government

28%

Private Sector

26%

Museum-generated

23%

Foundations

23%

23%
The McCord receives almost half its support from fundraising
and revenue-generating activities.

26%

Expenditures
Operations

29%

Collections

19%

Administration

13%

10%

7%

29%

11%

Marketing and Communications 11%
Exhibitions
Education
Development

11%
10%
7%

Expenditures for Collections includes creation
and management of the Museum’s Website.